Natural Consequences
by The facelessdrabble
Summary: United Earth Directorate launches another offensive into the koprulu sector, but as they say in war, no plan survives contact with the enemy...
1. Less than Noble Intentions

The first full session of the Council since Admiral Dugall had failed to report in, needless to say the assembled leaders didn't know what to think. Even though Gerard left with some of the finest equipment and men the United Earth Directorate could provide, he still failed to complete his mission. Hell, he even failed to make it _home_.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Enclave. We gather under the gravest of news."

The Lord Magistrate of the Council. Always one for showmanship and drama. I would never admit it where anyone could hear it, but he has something of a point, without the fleet and men Gerard Dugall left with I am somewhat…..weaker than I should have been. Or at least my fleets are.

"The mission of Admiral Dugall has been a tragic failure. Many of you saw the news reports of our forces capturing the Overmind, while that did in-fact occur, it seems that the enemy we defeated was not so easily slain, and our victory, not so easily held."

I wasn't as surprised as the Politicians where, then again, I had read the reports. The compressed databurst from the DSS Aleksander listing the overwhelming force of protoss, the unending Zerg Swarm… The Queen of Blades…. I visibly shudder and almost jump when a heavy metal hand gently grips my shoulder.

"You okay Erikka?"

I fondly grip the hand before shoving it off my uniform. "I'm fine James, just thinking about the data on _her_." I frown slightly at his mildly confused look. "Her _majesty_." I say, stressing the last word somewhat sarcastically. "And you know how I feel about Him." I frown and tap the small circular device set into my skull over my left ear.

"Oh." He shakes his head and pats my shoulder again, wandering back to his pace at the door with the heavy thumps I have come to associate with the SFPA suits all the soldiers wear in this day and age.

I turn my attention back to the Grand meeting hall of the Council, pausing a moment to take in the sheer size of the place before absently watching the Lord Magistrate drone on about rebuilding our Fleets and burning the alien scourge from existence. Why did he want me here? Sure I am the Commander of the Fleets but I take my orders from the Council. I don't make any decisions about where I go with their fleets outside of wartime combat operations. I am just a soldier….

"**I present Errika Shepard, Commander of the Directorate Fleets."** I jerk back to the present with an almost audible 'THUNK!'

I Salute the Magistrate smartly, my heels clicking together as I come to attention. "My Lord Magistrate. It is an honor, as always."

He dismisses my salute with an almost imperious wave of his hand. "You have no idea why you are here do you Commander Shepard?"

I shake my head slightly, decades of military training keeping my expression blank and my overwhelming hate of the man in check. "No Lord Magistrate, though given your topic to this point I would assume it has something to do with our wayward colonies?"

"You are half right." He turned to the rest of the Councilors. "Errika has volunteered to personally oversee the retrofits of our fleets, and make them capable of filling that war torn _disgrace to humanity!_" The Magistrate takes a deep breath to calm himself. "That sector of space with ash. Her mission is to make sure not even bacteria survive, Commander Shepard has volunteered on a campaign of genocide against criminals and alien _SCUM!"_ I stepped back from the platform mildly sick to my stomach as the council chamber erupted into cheers, the Magistrate looked down at me from his platform and tapped the left side of his head, leering cruelly at me. "Commander, you are dismissed. The council will fund you any resources you need."

I turn to James the other marine with him. "Vega. Jenkins. We are leaving." Jenkins looks slightly confused by the exchange and James…. James sealed his visor. I couldn't see his face, let him now I needed him more than ever. My heart sank as I walked out of the doors flanked by the three meter tall marines, knowing I was trapped in my own personal hell.

"Greetings Captain! I am Adjunct-80TE. I was ordered by the Commander to provide you with equipment specifications and other information as necessary. Currently I have information on the SFPA Combat Exoskeleton. SFPA, Short for Sirta Foundation Powered Armor this suit was eventually developed to replace the horribly outdated Combat Hardskins that have remained in service since the founding of the United Earth Directorate. Most of the designs of the SFPA incorporate designs from the 'Terran' CMC power armor encountered by Admiral Gerard Dugall in his campaign to bring our wayward colonies back under earth control and to asses the threat of the Protoss and Zerg, as well as some rather inventive new technologies that make the SFPA a force to reckon with on the battlefield.

Most of the suit is covered in three centimeters of ship grade armor plating, while the exposed servos and internal workings on the arms and legs have been moved to the inside. This gives the Suit a less industrial appearance.

Using the 'Defense Matrix' of the outdated Research vessels Sirta Foundation has incorporated a small shield into the armor. The power requirements make this technology impractical in anything smaller than armored vehicles. That said, infantry can carry a mobile generator and shield pylon array that can be used to power the shields of the SFPA indefinitely. **It is to be noted that without these generators or arrays the suit does ****not**** have the ability or form or maintain its shield and must rely on its armor plate…..and chest high walls.**

In addition to being sealed against Bio, Chemical, Nuclear, and Hard Vacuum, the suit enhances the strength of the operator roughly 36 times, with a soft load cap at 3.5 imperial tons.

Logging you out Captain."


	2. Old friends, Older Enemies

**Authors Note:**

**Right, apparently I can't figure out the formatting thingy…. **

*****_**hits it with a 1 ¼" wrench***_

**Did that fix it? No? Crap. Anyway, brace for weird format monsters until my percussive maintenance makes it all better.**

*****_** goes back to wailing on the formatter with a wrench*  
**_

**Mass Effect References, Lore, and Characters belong to Bioware.**

**Starcraft References, Lore, and Characters belong to Activision/Blizzard.**

_**This is Emily Wong and you are listening to the Directorate Broadcast Channel, in an unsurprising vote the Council extended more emergency wartime powers to the Lord Magistrate giving him almost complete control of all council controlled space. The Lord Magistrate then proceeded to propose and approve a bill to launch a campaign into the koprulu sector, sighting the overwhelming threat from alien invaders. Commander Shepard is personally leading this campaign and could not be reached for comment. Dianna Allers will have more with this story later on Battle-Space.**_

The Odin. They were giving me the Odin. Of all the Super Battle Cruisers, the Odin was _the_ ship of the line. I couldn't help but feel marginally better about myself and this whole…. Situation.

"Ma'am?"

I moved my boot a little on my desk to see who was talking at me. "Jenkins, What can I do you for?" I snickered a little as he turned red from my choice of words.

"Well…. Uh… Frankly ma'am…." I wait for him to compose himself a little before winking at him, sending him into another blush.

"Errika, you know if you break another marine they will stop letting you have any." I look past Jenkins brain meltdown to see James leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed, a semi amused expression on his face.

I was in no mood to deal with him right now, "Get out James," I venomously hiss at him, all humor gone. I look at Jenkins, dropping my feet under my desk and sitting 'properly' "Alright Jenkins, you had something to ask?" I shoot a glare at James who shrugs and leaves.

"Well, ya, I guess." He looks at me nervously, "Just, what the Magistrate said. Scorched Earth? Genocide? Orbital bombardment with ship Class Nukes? Seems a little intense don't you think?"

I steeple my hands over my nose as I think of a reply. "You where briefed on the Zerg right?"

He nods slightly. "Nasty little bastards, but we beat them once without the level of warfare that's being prepared for right now. Did you know they just loaded _NINE_ Mark 15 nukes in the launch bay!? What possible threat needs a 50 Gigaton nuclear weapon!?"

I look down at my desk and slowly push the datapad I was looking at over to him. "This is more than the zerg, and we have more than a few mark 15's."

He picks up the datapad and looks at it. "A video file?" I nod and wince as he starts to play it, knowing what is on it.

/"_Oh god! They are overwhelming the base! Fall Back! Fallback! RUN! CONTACT! AUGGGGH!" The zergling jumps on the back of the man in front of the camera, ripping him into a morbid statue of rent flesh and shattered metal. "We are not going to make it we are not going to make-" The camera turns around a corner, a mangled supply depo at a guess, and looks at the command center, before diving back and panning to look at a hill. "Wha' beh wron' wi' tha' base Jake?" "Dunno, keep your cake hole shut, don't want um findin us! The camera peeks around at the command center again, getting a good look at the fleshy growths covering it._

"_MY LIFE FOR THE SWARM!"_

_The camera catches a glimpse of a marine with badly damaged CMC armor before an explosion ends the video. /_

Jenkins looks up at me, "Commander, what the Hell was that?! We are mobilizing because the outcasts are using suicide bombers?" He slams the datapad on my desk and starts to walk off.

"Stop, you need to see this." I pick up the datapad and rewind it frame by frame. Freezing on the suicide bomber and handing it back. "Tell me, does that look like a suicide bomber. Does that look even human?"

Jenkins takes the pad back and just stares at it. "What is that thing?"

"It was a marine. Not only can the zerg kill billions of people in a matter of hours but they can change them into…those." I shudder faintly. "There is more, but it's outside of your clearance. For now."

He nods, setting my datapad on the desk. "Thank you commander. I don't like it, but I makes sense at least."

"Anytime Jenkins. You should go explore the ship, see if you can get a few detachments of marines to 'acquire' sections of the ship in boarding and counter boarding drills." I grin faintly as I make air quotes around the word acquire.

"Yes Ma'am!" I shake my head as he runs off to armor up. He may come off as an airheaded kid, but that boy is one of my sharpest marine LT's, have to be to be Spec Ops. I pop my feet back on my desk, fully prepared to start a _through_ inspection of the inside of my eyelids when fate decided to intervene and 'save' me from the inspection.

"Commander. The Magistrate of the Council would like to speak with you." I glare at the Adjunct's avatar.

"Tell him I am in combat drills. Or dead. Or something. I am not here." I hiss in displeasure as the Avatar Changes from hers to his.

"We may not always see eye to eye commander, but is that the way to great such an old friend?"

"Screw you Jack! If it wasn't for this… thing!" I jab the device drilled into my skull, "I would have killed you years ago!"

"Well, that would be somewhat unfortunate. I have some rather important plans to finish, which is why I am calling you. There is a rouge Ghost operate on one of your ships. Find him and kill him."

"And why would I do that? I hate the idea of this mission. I hope he sabotages the whole thing!"

"Because my dear Pet, I control you." I tense as he pushes a button off screen and my body fills with pain. It feels like molten steel is being forced through my veins, and I scream, falling under my desk in a tangled heap.

"Stop. I'll do it…" I look up from where I had fallen to see a surprised look on Harpers face.

"Really? Usually it takes much longer than that to convince you I am right." I get shakily to my feet as the device on my head let out a happy beep.

"Really. I am tired, hungry, annoyed, and while I still wish nothing but ruin on you I don't want to add torture to my things done today." I set my chair up and lean on my desk, looking at the wall the com is set in. "Ghost Operative."

"Yes. We know he is in your fleet somewhere, just not where."

I frown, "Are you going to send me data on him? My ships are currently crawling with Ghost Operatives. With a uniform he would blend in."

"Oh you don't need data. He is an old friend of yours from the Academy. Kaidan Alenko"


	3. The Best Laid Plans

**Mass Effect and Starcraft are owned by their respective owners, Bioware and Activision/Blizzard. This story draws no monetary return and is for entertainment only. **

I sat at my desk, staring at the imperfections in the welds, hoping, praying that they would give me an answer. Kadian. It had been years since we had last seen each other, I had hoped that when he stopped returning my mail he was just on some deep cover strike ops. I would have never expected him to join the Rebels to fight this…. Evil monster that Jack had turned it into. Then again if he didn't have a firm hand on my _leash_, I probably would be out there too, doing everything in my power to bring this Illusive Horror that runs the Home Sector down too. He didn't even have the decency to gloat like a good villain, he just glanced off screen and cut the channel after dropping that bombshell on me. I hate him. I really do. Sometimes I just I could blast him in the face with my psionics and throw him out the airlock….

Airlock….

I thumb the key on the side of my workpad. "Lieutenants James Vega and Ashley Williams please report to the Fleet Operations Center on the Odin." I smile faintly at the plan forming in my head as I stand up and head out of my office into the operations center.

The Operations center, the nerve center of my ever expanding fleet. Here I can control anything. Looking at the _massive_ Holographic display in the middle I could see what every one of my ships where doing. "Adjunct."

"Yes Commander?" I glance over at the robotic woman set into the wall. She seemed to be staring at me almost curiously.

"Please inform all helmsmen and pilots I want their vessels space borne and at least 15 kilometers from any instillation or planetary body within the area and to stand by for further orders. The ones that are still loading supplies or docked are to suspend those operations and join the fleet A-sap." I raise an eyebrow as she remains silent for a full minuet and then _blinks _at me.

"Commander, one hundred two ships are already space borne and are forming a standard loitering formation. Of the one hundred docked or loading ships, seventy are lodging extreme protest to your orders. One, the Captain of the Odin is coming down here to. 'Smack some sense into that broken Ghost Has-Been'" I shake my head faintly, having to remind myself that while Captain Martin was abrasive and sometimes shortsighted, at least as far as social interactions, he was the captain of the flagship of humanity for a reason. "Also, Lieutenants Vega and Williams are here."

I nod, "Good, and let Captain Martin in when he arrives. He will want to hear this first hand."

"Understood Commander. Is that all?" I wave my hand in a dismissal. "Very good Commander, logging you out."

"So, something for your Ghosts already huh?" I turn from the Adjunct's alcove to see Ashley smirking at me, her signature pink and white armor almost clashing with the grays and greens around her.

"Not quite. I need you to round up all of your Ghosts and fit them with EVA gear." I turn to James as he came thudding up in full armor. "How many marines do we have that can do EVA work?"

"I don't know, a few thousand maybe?" I frown, with so few marines it would take a while to do a deck by deck search.

I rub the back of my neck. "All of your suits are rated for Hard Vacuum, or they should be. Mag boots are not a concern right now because we have gravity, so, taking that into account, how many marines? Anyone that can work in Hard Vacuum."

James seemed to be looking at something on his internal HUD, "Most of them. There are about twenty that have damaged suits and those are easy-"

"**COMMANDER!"** I wince at the sheer volume of Martain's voice.

"Captain Martain. A pleasure as always."

"Don't you give me that crap! What could you possibly be thinking?! We are halfway loaded on supplies and ammunition! This little stunt has set us back several days!" I mentally laugh as I picture his reaction to what I have planned.

"Williams, Vega, Martin." I nod to each in turn, "we have a very dangerous saboteur on board and I am going to find him in a somewhat…. unique fashion. "

I watched dawning spread across Ashley's face. "You are going to vent the ship and then do a deck by deck search for pressurized compartments."

I point at her. "Bingo."

"That won't work! The Saboteur could have a breathing mask! Or suffocate to death!" Martin sputtered in anger.

I roll my eyes, "That's why it will work. The mask vents its waste into the compartment, raising the pressure, and if he dies, well one less saboteur. "

I watch as Martin stroked his beard in thought and glared at me. "If this doesn't work I am going to personally kick you in the nuts." He seems to do a double take and simply roared "NUT-ETS!" I sort of chuckle as he storms back to the bridge in a huff and turn to my Lieutenants as he does.

"Do you think he failed sex-ed in school or is he just that oblivious?" I shake my head at James and sort of smile.

"Maybe he just doesn't see anything past the uniform, who knows." Ashley shrugged and popped her neck. "At any rate you had some orders for us?"

I nod."I do have some very important orders for you. This saboteur is a powerful renegade Directorate Ghost, and very dangerous. When you find him I want your squads to report directly to me, but _do not engage!_ Understood?"

The two nodded and then looked at each other, "Ma'am, are you thinking about taking him down yourself? No offence, but without your Psionics you are not much of a Ghost anymore." I look at Ashley.

"I don't need them, Come on. Let's get this going, we have a Rebel to catch."


	4. Smoke and Mirrors

**Quick authors note/ life lesson: Don't do anything stupid on holiday weekends that you don't want to explain to the paramedics, or your medical insurance.**

**Starcraft belongs to Activision/Blizzard, Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.**

I tugged fruitlessly at the belt of my suit, trying in vain to convince myself that it was only tighter than I remember because of the new tech packed into the chest arch. "Ugh! Stupid. Idiotic. SUIT!" With a grunt of rage I pull the belt off and glare at the Adjunct Terminal in the armory. "Adjunct!"

"Yes Commander?" I frowned deeper as she seemed to adapt a smug expression.

"Do we have something that will keep my bodysuit from crawling into my lower regions? I know some Ghosts get a thrill from running around with a _visible wedgie_ _but I am not one of them!"_ I finally snap and throw the belt in the Adjunct's general direction and pulling down on my hips, before the suit and my pelvis can make themselves even more acquainted.

"I don't know Commander, you really should try it before you knock it." I turn to the door and glare at Ashley, her armor lighting the room up faintly with pink flashes every time its psionic channels pulse.

"I don't like this full form body suit crap! Last time I was in armor it was _actually armor!" _ I turn back to the table, letting the body suit snap back into place with a loud elastic -like 'Snap!' that made me wince.

"Commander, I may have a solution to your problem." I turned to the Adjunct, having completely forgotten about her with Ash's interruption.

"And what might that be?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"We have several prototype armors and weapons on board in the event we may need them. The particular armor of interest is designated November Seven Dash India Dash November. It's Serial Code is -"

I hold up my hand and cut her off. What is it with the A.I's and numbers? "N7 armor. That sounds interesting, can you bring the specs up here?" I gesture at one of the holo tables in the room and what almost looks like a bastard child of a modern Ghost suit and Marine armor begins spinning in the orange hologram. "….what am I looking at?"

"The November Seven contains the shield generator from a standard SFPA combat suit as well as a layer of ultralight ceramic ballistic plates. While not as strong as standard armor it allows a greater degree of mobility. This particular model is also equipped with a tactical cloak and wrist mounted stun baton." I sort of stare at her for a while.

"You just wanted to show these off didn't you?" I place my hand on my hip and stare the AI down.

"No commander, your wedgie was just that unsightly." I stare at the Adjunct in disbelief while trying to ignore Ash rolling on the floor laughing by the door. After a pause the Adjunct blinked, "….That was a joke."

"I have never seen an Adjunct try and joke before." I peer at it, looking for loose wires.

"I am a Ship level Adjunct. Also one of the Wraith pilots recommended I" her eyes change color and her voice changes into a vaguely familiar masculine tone. _" Lighten up and download a sense of humor. Damn Overlords…."_

I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose, "Just have one of those armor sets sent up here and lets do this, we have wasted enough time already and I for one just want this problem solved and over with so we can get underway."

"Yes Commander."

I stood alone on the fleet command deck of the Odin watching as deck by deck the teams found nothing and ship after ship was cleared, finally watching as only the Odin was left, partly because of being the last to be started, mostly because of her size. "Vega, how long are we looking until a full clear?"

His replay was slightly distorted in that way unique to heavy armor. "I dunno Lola, an hour or more? We are just running down the halls checking anything that isn't right on the pressure panels. Been fish bowls mostly."

I chuckle faintly. "Well, you where a big sushi fan. Let me know if you find anything. Sheppard out." I turn to get one of the uploaded reports from the other ships when I see him, casually leaning on the rail around the outside wall as if it was his ship and I was the Stow-away, not the other way around.

"Seems like a pretty odd way to catch a stow away if you ask me. An announced warning of ship wide depressurization and search sweeps a half hour before? Teams sweeping to the hangers instead of away from them? Normally I would say the commanding officer was a moron, now I am not so sure….."

I look at the floor, not really willing to look Kadain in the face. "Pretty sure you came to kill the Commanding Officer right? Cripple the Directorate military and stop this fool's errand all at once?"

I hear a small pistol being cocked, the sound echoing in the small room. "It would be rather easy to, I would imagine that's why you ordered this room left pressurized. Which begs the question, are you that stupid, or are you suicidal Errika?"

I look up, staring calmly at Kadain around the gun he has pointed at my head. "It doesn't really matter, even if I do die today he will just find another puppet. If I don't, well, then I just die later then." I shrug and rest my forehead on the muzzle of the pistol. "If it was anyone but you…." I stop and just stare at him.

"Damn it Sheppard! You where one of the few in the academy that didn't buy into the bull the Directorate was spreading everywhere! You where one of the few I counted on to not fall into the moral void that Earth has become and now you are High Commander of the fleets? What the hell happened?" I watched as his aim wavered and he lowered the gun, pointing it at the ground.

"To us? To me? To the Directorate?" I shake my head. "It's been a long time for both of us. I have orders to kill you and you are part of a rebel movement to overthrow our new emperor. Both of us have chosen out path." I look over my shoulder at a console to my left. " But in the here and now, It would be terribly unfortunate if you managed to overpower me and access this console that happens to have classified fleet data and defense codes for the Council Defense fleet open on it." He blinked at me, a look of open confusion spreading across his face. "It would be even worse if you found the access codes for the Captains Yacht I wrote down and stashed in my belt pouch, you know, because I can't ever remember anything." He slowly blinked in an almost comical way before understanding dawned on his face.

"I am guessing I just happen to know about some weak point you have that would let me do such a thing? You are quite the soldier.." I stare at his lowered pistol.

"The ocular node on the left side of my head, it's more than it seems and if you where hit it hard enough, say with a handle of a pistol…." I shrug.

"I'm sorry." I just shrug as he takes two steps across the gap between us and slams the gun into the left side of my head, turning the world into a blue and red Kaleidoscope of pain and darkness.

_Kadain caught her before she hit the floor, a look of true remorse on his face as he lowered her gently to the ground and rifled her belt pouches until he found the small scrap of paper in one. "Console console…" With one last look at her he downloaded the data from the console and left the room, vanishing as his cloak engaged. _

"_Commander! Commander! We found the Rebel and he has stolen the Captains Yacht! We cannot peruse until the fleetwide repressurization has completed because of safety protocols! Commander! SHEPARD!" The frantic calls remained unheeded, the metal room and still, unmoving body of the Commander the only ones to hear it, with neither caring._


End file.
